Needle device



Jan. 28, 1969 J. T. SHORT 3,

NEEDLE DEVICE Filed Nov. 12, 1965 1 Sheet of 2 INVENTOR. Jo; TWSHORT ATTORNEYS Jan. 28, 1969 J. T'. SHORT 3,

NEEDLE DEVICE Filed Nov. 12, 1965 Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JQE T. SHORT ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,424,114 NEEDLE DEVICE Joe T. Short, West Point, Ga., assignor to Callaway Mills Company, La Grange, (221., a corporation of Georgia File-:1 Nov. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 507,297 U.S. Cl. 11279 1 Claim Int. Cl. Dc /12 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed a tufting machine needle device comprising an elongated channel block member with a plurality of integrally formed yarn channels extending therethrough and communicating at one end with a plurality of needle points which protrude transversely from the elongated channel block member.

This invention relates to needles and, more particularly to a needle device having a plurality of needle points through each of which yarn is delivered by the flow of a fluid.

The tufting and related arts are characterized by a plurality of yarns being passed through a backing material by a plurality of needles. The needles are customarily carried by a needle bar which moves relative to the backing material to provide for the alternate passing of the needles through the backing material and removing of the needles from the backing material.

Hollow needles used in the tufting art for tufting by the flow of a fluid through the needle have generally been vertically inserted through a needle bar and held in position by fastening means such as set screws. The upper ends of these hollow needles have been positioned in a needle bar adjacent the upper surface of the needle bar for receiving yarn from a creel, pattern control means, or other source and the central portions of these hollow needles have been positioned in a fluid chamber within the needle bar so that a pressurized fluid in the fluid chamber may pass into the interior of each hollow needle through a plurality of fluid passageways in the hollow needle.

3,4Z4,l l4 Patented Jan. 28, 1969 "Ice to damage when inserted into a needle bar and when in use.

The invention disclosed herein overcomes these and other difliculties and disadvantages encountered with this prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar by providing a plurality of yarn passages integrally formed in an elongated channel block member. A plurality of needle points are connected to the channel block member and protrude transversely therefrom. The channel member and needle points together form a needle device having a plurality of yarn passageways through which yarn is fed for tufting a tufted fabric by fluid selectively directed into the plurality of yarn passageways through a plurality of fluid passageways formed in the channel member.

The needle device has no hollow needles with central portions of relatively large diameter and the needle points may be of small diameter and closely placed as they extend from the channel member. Thus, the needle device is well suited to the tufting of tufted fabrics of extremely narrow gauge. Moreover, a fluid chamber for fluid under pressure, the plurality of fluid passageways, and the yarn passageways are all formed in the channel member so that the needle device is inherently sealed against the loss of fluid. Accordingly, the needle device avoids the sealing difliculty encountered with the prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar. In addition, the needle device is relatively easy to manufacture and durable in use even when the needle points are of a size and arrangement for tufting relatively narrow gauge tufted fabrics.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

With this prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar, it is necessary to provide a fluid-tight seal around each hollow needle as it extends into and from the fluid chamber of a needle bar in order to prevent fluid under pressure from escaping from the fluid chamber along the exterior surface of each hollow needle. Such fluid-tight seals are difiicult to achieve and maintain. This is particularly so where it is desired to use small diameter hollow needles for the tufting of narrow gauge fabrics since O-rings and other sealing means of sufliciently small size to be used are easily damaged.

This prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar also possesses a further disadvantage in that the central portion of each hollow needle must have walls which are sufiiciently thick for the plurality of fluid passageways in the hollow needle to be of sufficient length to provide fluid jets directed downwardly into the interior of the hollow needle. The resulting thickness of the walls of the central portion of each hollow needle prevents a plurality of hollow needles from being placed sufliciently close together in a needle bar to tuft many narrow gauge tufted fabrics.

Moreover, the making of prior art hollow needles sufiiciently small for their centers to be placed relatively close together is undesirable since the forming of the required plurality of fluid passageways through the resulting relatively small central portions is diflicult and expensive to achieve. It is also undesirable because prior art hollow needles sufliciently small to be used in the tufting of relatively narrow gauge tufted fabrics are delicate and easy FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, exploded, perspective, and partially cut-away view of a first embodiment of the needle device and of an associated pusher rod assembly;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of that embodiment of the needle device shown in FIG. 1 taken substantially in line 22 in FIG. 1 and with the pusher rod assembly in position;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, perspective, and partially cutaway view of the two sections of a second embodiment of the needle device with the two sections shown rotated at ninety degrees with respect to each other and with the channel member of a pusher rod assembly shown attached to the upper section;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, perspective, and partially cutaway view of a third embodiment of the needle device;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, exploded, and perspective view of that embodiment of the needle device shown in FIG. 1 with a selector block.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose specific embodiments of the invention, but the invention is not limited to the details disclosed since it may be embodied in other equivalent forms.

The needle device disclosed herein is best understood in terms of an elongated channel block member 10 having a plurality of channels integrally formed therein and a plurality of hollow needle points 11 extending transversely from the elongated channel member 10 and having their interiors 12 in communication with some of the plurality of channels within the channel member 10. In that embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the channel member 10 is formed with a plurality of parallel, vertically disposed yarn channels 14 extending through the channel member 10 from its upper surface 15 to its lower surface 16. Each yarn channel 14 has an upper or main portion 17 of uniform circular crosssection continuous with a lower or outlet portion 18 of uniform but larger circular cross-section, As shown, for example, in FIG. 2, the upper or main portion 17 extends most of the distance along the channel 14 through the channel block member 10. A shoulder 19 is formed where the upper portion 17 of each yarn channel 14 is continuous with the lower portion 18 of the yarn channel 14.

The upper end 20 of one of the plurality of needle points 11 is inserted into the lower portion 18 of each yarn channel 14 until the upper edge 21 of the needle point 11 seats against the shoulder 19 formed within the yarn channel 14. Each needle point 11 is a hollow cylinder of substantially uniform inside and outside diameters throughout its length and the outside diameter of each needle point 11 is substantially identical to the diameter of the lower portion 18 of the yarn channel 14 into which the upper end 20 of the needle point 11 is inserted. Thus, each needle point 11 tends to be held within a yarn channel 14 by friction. However, to insure that the plurality of needle points 11 remain in position in the channel member 10, a plurality of set screws 22 are extended through the channel member from one side 23 of the channel member 10 to engage the upper ends of the needle points 11, which upper ends terminate at the lower or outlet portions 18 of the yarn channels 14.

The inside diameter of each of the plurality of needle points 11 is substantially identical to the diameter of the upper portion 17 of the yarn channel 14 into which the upper end 20 of the needle point 11 is inserted and it will be understood that upper portions 17 of the yarn channels 14 and the interiors 12 of the needle points 11 provide a plurality of yarn passageways 24 extending from the upper surface 15 of the channel member 10 to the tips 25 of the needle points 11. Each yarn passageway 24 is of substantially uniform diameter throughout its length and the centerline of each yarn passageway 24 is substantially srtaight and parallel to the centerlines of the other yarn passageways 24.

Within the channel member 10 is a fluid chamber 26 formed by a cavity in the channel member 10 closed by a cover plate 27 removably attached to the side 28 of the channel member 10 by a plurality of threaded cap screws 29 which extend through the cover plate 27 into threaded recesses 30 in the channel member 10. Positioned between the cover plate 27 and the side 28 of the channel member 10 is a sealing element such as a gasket 31 which serves to insure that a fluid under pressure such as pressurized air will not escape from the fluid chamber 26 between the side 28 of the channel member 10 and the cover plate 27.

A single fluid passageway 32 extends from the fluid chamber 26 to each of the yarn passageways 24. Each fluid passageway 32 has a constriction 33 in diameter at that end which communicates with a yarn passageway 24 and each fluid passageway 32 serves as a means for directing a downwardly inclined fluid jet against yarn in a yarn passageway 24. It will be understood that the constriction 33 in each fluid passageway 32 at the yarn passageway 24 serves to increase the velocity of fluid passing from the fluid chamber 26 into the yarn passageway 24 as it enters the yarn passagaway 24 and that an acute angle between the centerline of each fluid passageway 32 and the centerline of the yarn passageway 24 with which it communicates will serve to feed yarn downwardly within the yarn passageway 24.

It will now also be understood that the channel member 10 and the plurality of needle points 11 extending from the channel member 10 together serve to provide a plurality of yarn passageways 24 into each of which is directed a fluid jet by a fluid passageway 32. More importantly, the channel member 10 and the plurality of needle points 11 together provide a needle device having a plurality of yarn passageways 24 and associated fluid passageways 32 similar to those provided by the prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar. However, unlike this prior art arrangement, the needle device disclosed herein provides yarn passageways 24 which may be closely placed since the only limitation on spacing between yarn passageways 24 is that they be spaced sufficiently far apart to insure the structural integrity of the channel member 10. Moreover, it will be understood that although the needle points 11 will generally be of equal length and arranged in one or more rows extending the length of the channel member 10, the yarn passageways 24 and needle points 11 may be arranged to provide for substantially any pattern of needle points 11 which it is desired to pass through a backing material. For example, the needle points 11 may be arranged so that the gauge of a tufted fabric is less than the outside diameters of the needle points 11, i.e., as shown in FIG. 1, the distances along the rows of needles between the centers of adjoining yarn channels in different rows are less than the outside diameters of the needle points. Thus, yarns of relatively large diameter may be used to produce narrow gauge tufted fabrics. This has not been possible in the prior art.

The needle device also differs from the prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar in that the yarn passageways 24, the fluid passageways 32, and the fluid chamber 26 are formed within the channel member 10. Since fluid in a yarn passageway 24 will more readily pass through the interior 12 of a needle point 11 than between the upper end 20 of the needle point 11 and the surface of the lower portion 18 of a yarn channel 14, the arrangement in the needle device of yarn passageways 24, fluid passageways 32, and the fluid chamber 26 with the seating of the needle points 11 against the shoulders 19, and the gasket 31 provides a substantially fluid-tight structure not possible in the prior art.

Moreover, when the fluid passageways 32 are arranged to communicate with the fluid chamber 26 in a predetermined pattern along the length of the fluid chamber 26 as best shown in FIG. 1, the needle device disclosed herein provides for the convenient selective feeding of fluid to a plurality of yarn passageways 24. For example, in that embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5, the blocking of fluid to selected yarn passageways 24 is accomplished by simply placing a selector block 34 in the fluid chamber 26. The length of the selector block 34 and its position in the fluid chamber 26 determines which fluid passageways 32 are blocked by the selector block 34 where the fluid passageways 32 communicate with the fluid chamber 26. Thus selectivity may be achieved by moving the block 34 to different positions in the chamber 26 or by interchanging blocks of different lengths or configurations. Thus, the needle device readily permits the use of selected yarn passageways 24 by the control of fluid and without the loss of fluid through those yarn passageways 24 through which yarn is not passing.

These improvements in the tufting art are not only obtained with that embodiment of the invention disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 as described above, but may also be obtained by other embodiments such as those shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In that embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, the fluid passageways 32 extending from the fluid chamber 26' to the yarn passageways 24 are formed by horizontal legs 35 and downwardly inclined legs 36. Moreover, the channel member 10' is formed in two sections 10a and 1012 which are bolted together by bolts (not shown). It will be understood that with this construction of the invention, the fluid chamber 26 and the horizontal legs 35 of the fluid passageways 32 are manufactured simply by routing a portion of the fluid chamber 26' and a portion of each horizontal leg 35 from opposed faces of the sections 10a and 1%. However, apart from its ease of construction, this embodiment of the invention serves to disclose that the needle device is adaptable to the feeding of fluid to a yarn passageway 24 by substantially any selected path required by the positioning of the fluid chamber 26 in the channel member or by the positioning of the yarn passageways 24' in the channel member 10'.

That embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4 further illustrates the versatility of the invention disclosed herein. In this embodiment of the invention the centerlines of fluid passageways 32" are substantially parallel with the centerlines of the needle points 11" and each yarn passageway 24" is formed by a vertical leg 37 and an inclined leg 38. The upper ends 39 of the inclined legs 38 of the plurality of yarn passageways 24" terminate at inclined faces 40 formed in the side 28" of the channel member 10" and it will be understood that this embodiment of the invention is adapted to the delivery of yarn to yarn passageways 24" from one side of the needle device. Moreover, the fluid passageways 32" may be concentric or eccentric with respect to the centerlines of the needle points 11". Where eccentric, the arrangement permits directing a jet of fluid along a side of the yarn in a yarn passageway 24", and where concentric, the arrangement permits directing a jet of fluid initially against the central portion of the yarn in a yarn passageway 24" and subsequently along the sides of the yarn. Thus, a jet of fluid may be provided to obtain the most effective feeding of any one of a variety of yarn types.

Operation In using the invention disclosed herein in the tufting art, the channel member 10 is most conveniently attached directly to the horizontal member 41 of a push rod assembly 42 by a plurality of bolts 43. The push rod assembly 42 is conventional in that the horizontal member 41 is cup-shaped and when it is attached to the upper surface of the channel member 10, the horizontal member 41 and upper surface 15 of the channel member 10 provide a channel 44 communicating with the hollow interior 45 of the push rod 46 which in turn is connected to a conventional source of fluid under pressure such as compressed air (not shown). In that embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4, the horizontal member 41 of the push rod assembly 42 provides one side of the fluid chamber 26" but in the other embodiments, a plurality of inlet openings 47 extend between the fluid chamber 26 and the channel 44. However, it will be understood that with all embodiments fluid under pressure is delivered to the fluid chamber 26 in the channel member from which the fluid is fed by the fluid passageways 32 to the yarn passageways 24.

Similarly, yarn is delivered to the plurality of yarn passageways 24 from any convenient source of yarn (not shown). The passing of yarn into the upper ends of the yarn passageways 24 at the upper surface 15 of the channel member 10 is facilitated by counter-sinking each yarn passageway 24 at the upper surface 15 of the channel member 10 to provide a sloping entry surface 50. Used in this manner with a conventional push rod assembly 42,

the needle device provides [for the tufting of tufted fabrics in substantially the same manner as the prior art arrangement of hollow needles inserted through a needle bar.

However, unlike the prior art arrangement, the needle device disclosed herein provides a plurality of needle points 11 which may be placed sufliciently close together to permit the tufting of tufted fabrics of very narrow gauge. Moreover, it permits the feeding of fluid to selected yarn passageways 24 and does not have the sealing difliculties of the prior art arrangement. It is also relatively inexpensive to manufacture and durable in use.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiments chosen for the purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed as invention is:

1. A narrow gauge needle device for a tufting machine comprising an elongated channel block member integrally defining a plurality of spaced yarn channels extending transversely therethrough, each of said channels having a main portion extending most of the distance along the respective channel through said channel block member and an outlet portion at one end of said main portion on one side of the channel block, a plurality of needle points connected to said channel block member and having outer ends protruding transversely therefrom, said needle points having hollow interiors communicating with said yarn channels to provide with said channels a plurality of yarn passageways, said needle points having their inner ends terminating at said outlet portions with said main portions being open for the passage of yarn directly therethrough, thereby enabling close spacing of said yarn channels, fluid feeding means for feeding a stream of fluid to each of said main portions of said yarn channels and out of said needle points so that yarn supplied to said yarn channels is fed through said yarn passageways by said stream of fluid, said fluid feeding means including a fluid chamber formed in said channel member and adapted for connection to a source of fluid under pressure, and a plurality of fluid passageways formed in said channel member, each of said fluid passageways being connected at one end with one of said yarn channels inside of the respective needle point and at its other end with said fluid chamber and means in said fluid chamber for selectively blocking said fluid passageways.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,452,632 4/1923 Barnett 112-79 X 1,830,463 11/1931 Foster et al. 11279 1,831,485 11/1931 Dykerman 11279.64 2,599,226 6/1952 Briem 11279 3,089,442 5/ 1963 Short 112-79 3,217,676 11/1965 Short 11279 FOREIGN PATENTS 912,655 2/1955 Germany.

HERBERT F. ROSS, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 112-266 

